Don't want to GAC log4net.dll

In this example I'll use log4net

I managed to get logging working by dropping the log4net release dll in the _app_bin directory found on my dev system in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\8081\

The 8081 part is the same as the port I have serving up the sites I am currently playing with.

This is nice to know in a dev environment as you might not want to go to the trouble of GACing (is that a verb?) everything you deliver in you solution.

OK that's fine how do I use it?

My working example extends my previous post on application pages.
Add this code to your web.config (which should be empty at the moment)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
    </configSections>

    <log4net debug="true">
        <root>
            <level value="ERROR" />
            <!-- priority value can be set to ALL|INFO|WARN|ERROR -->
            <priority value="ALL" />
            <appender-ref ref="AdoNetAppender" />
        </root>

        <!-- Define some output appenders -->
        <appender name="AdoNetAppender" type="log4net.Appender.AdoNetAppender">
            <bufferSize value="1" />
            <connectionType value="System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection, System.Data, Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
            <connectionString value="data source=VSMOSSCOMBO;initial catalog=WSS_Log;integrated security=true;" />
            <commandText value="INSERT INTO dbo.ExceptionLog ([Date],[Thread],[Level],[Logger],[Message],[Exception],[ApplicationUser]) VALUES (@log_date, @thread, @log_level, @logger, @message, @exception, @user)" />
            <parameter>
                <parameterName value="@user" />
                <dbType value="string" />
                <size value="255" />
                <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                    <conversionPattern value="%X{user}" />
                </layout>
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
                <parameterName value="@log_date" />
                <dbType value="DateTime" />
                <layout type="log4net.Layout.RawTimeStampLayout" />
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
                <parameterName value="@thread" />
                <dbType value="String" />
                <size value="255" />
                <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                    <conversionPattern value="%thread" />
                </layout>
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
                <parameterName value="@log_level" />
                <dbType value="String" />
                <size value="50" />
                <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                    <conversionPattern value="%level" />
                </layout>
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
                <parameterName value="@logger" />
                <dbType value="String" />
                <size value="255" />
                <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                    <conversionPattern value="%logger" />
                </layout>
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
                <parameterName value="@message" />
                <dbType value="String" />
                <size value="4000" />
                <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
                    <conversionPattern value="%message" />
                </layout>
            </parameter>
            <parameter>
                <parameterName value="@exception" />
                <dbType value="String" />
                <size value="2000" />
                <layout type="log4net.Layout.ExceptionLayout" />
            </parameter>
        </appender>
    </log4net>
</configuration>

This web.config points to a database called WSS_Log with a table called ExceptionLog. Here is the Create Script for the table.

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[ExceptionLog](
    [ExceptionLogKey] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
    [Guid] [uniqueidentifier] NULL,
    [ApplicationUser] [nvarchar](255)  NULL,
    [Date] [datetime] NULL,
    [Thread] [nvarchar](255)  NULL,
    [Level] [nvarchar](50)  NULL,
    [Logger] [nvarchar](255)  NULL,
    [Message] [nvarchar](4000)  NULL,
    [Exception] [nvarchar](2000)  NULL,
PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
(
    [ExceptionLogKey] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]

Add this to your AssemblyInfo.cs

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "Web.config", Watch = true)] 

Now you can use the Log but for completeness make your Default.aspx.cs look like this.

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;
using log4net;
using log4net.Core;

namespace MOSS.Web.Application.Basic
{

    [CLSCompliant(false)]
    public class Default : LayoutsPageBase
    {
        private static readonly ILog log = LogManager.GetLogger("Logger");

        // add control fields to match controls tags on .aspx page
        protected Label lblSiteTitle;
        protected Label lblSiteID;

        protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
        {
            log.Debug("OnLoad");

            // get current site and web
            SPSite siteCollection = this.Site;
            SPWeb site = this.Web;

            // program against controls on .aspx page
            lblSiteTitle.Text = site.Title;
            lblSiteID.Text = site.ID.ToString().ToUpper();
        }
    }
}